A: Refugees and asylum seekers alike are those fleeing life-threatening danger in their home countries. The difference lies in where they are processed. Refugees seek admission to the United States from a third country.
Asylum seekers request admission to the United States after they arrive within the U. A person cannot simply decide to apply to become a refugee. Instead, one must receive a referral to the U. The United States has strict caps for refugee admissions — for fiscal year , that cap has been set at 30, Within this cap, the regional ceiling for those admitted from Latin America and the Caribbean is set at a mere 3, When asylum seekers present at a U. The process may take months or even years, which gives people the opportunity to remain in the United States while their cases are pending.
In recent years, the detention of asylum seekers has grown, although many traveling in with small children are released with an ankle monitor as they await their court dates. It is not specific with regard to immigration status.
The situation has become complicated at the U. Q: How does the faith community approach refugees and asylum seekers, and why do they approach them differently? A: I believe that a more guarded approach toward asylum seekers correlates with a greater concern for order within conservative-leaning churches. Just as these churches have tended to take a more conservative line on issues such as homosexuality and transgender rights, they have tended to be less trusting of individuals — such as asylum seekers — whose status is more ambiguous, as they blur the lines between legality and illegality.
Progressive churches, on the other hand, tend to be more open toward theological ambiguity, which translates to social policy. Not all faith communities with active refugee-ministry programs are necessarily immigrant-welcoming in a broader sense. At a conference of churches involved in refugee assistance, I recall an encounter with one woman who was deeply committed to refugee ministry through her conservative evangelical Protestant denomination.
She had accompanied and worked with women fleeing unspeakable violence across the world, and spoke with profound compassion and dedication about that work. When it came to the issue of Central American families seeking asylum at the border, however, she was more guarded. Q: Your book, " Fire in the Canyon: Religion, Migration, and the Mexican Dream ," states that if we wish to understand people's migration decisions, we must take religion seriously.
Why is that so important to understand? A: For many of us who have no direct, personal connection to the cross-border migration journey, migration is merely an economic matter or a political matter. Since economic migrants know their desired host country would under ordinary circumstances be unwilling to accept them, they often present themselves as refugees. They falsely claim torture, beatings, rape, or other persecution back home, knowing it is extremely difficult for immigration officials to verify such events in a faraway place.
Even when all facts are clear, the distinction between a migrant and legitimate refugee can be very blurry. A Nigerian arriving in Italy might have left Nigeria for reasons other than a fear of persecution, but ended up fleeing extreme danger in Libya. Conversely, a Syrian might have crossed into Jordan and found safety from the war, but been prompted by the bleak prospects of indeterminate camp life to make the onward journey to Europe.
Regardless of the legal status that each one obtains in Europe, they are both migrants who have made difficult decisions, who deserve our compassion, and whose rights need to be ensured. Then again, absorbing refugees is tremendously difficult and expensive for host countries.
Accepting even just people fleeing well documented persecution may be a politically unpopular burden. Not applying strict requirements may lead countries to refuse to accept any refugees at all.
A brief report from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees explaining how economic migrants, refugees, and others mix together attempting to reach Europe. Several news articles detailing how European countries are increasingly attempting to distinguish between refugees and economic migrants to stem the flow of people crossing the Mediterranean to the continent. Caravans of people fleeing Central America through Mexico arrive at the U. The Trump administration accuses them of being economic migrants attempting to get around immigration law.
An articel in the New Republic examining this controversy and the difficulties with categorizing these people. A scholarly analysis of the differnces between economic migrants and refugees and the difficulty of distinguishing between the two from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Last Friday, Oct. Unfortunately, we frequently hear Israel accused of war crimes. On the news, in op-eds, and for that matter in discussions at the gym or supermarket. Recently, the organization nonhumanrights. Yes, nonhumanrights.
What is this about, you may wonder?
0コメント